


Coolsville: Year One

by wsdsrdbw4096



Series: Coolsville Central [1]
Category: Scooby Doo - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Origin Story, Reboot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9597914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wsdsrdbw4096/pseuds/wsdsrdbw4096
Summary: As the title suggests, this story is based on the famed Batman graphic novel Batman: Year One, only that Scooby-Doo and related Hanna-Barbera characters are featured.This story mainly features characters that normally function as minor or supporting characters in the franchise, while Shaggy and Daphne only plays minor roles in this story.In addition, this story holds the distinction where Scooby-Doo does not appear at all.





	1. At police headquarters

 

**Here's the revamped first chapter of my very first FanFiction story, folks!**

**This reposted first chapter, which essentially combines the first two chapters of the original story, along with the soon to be updated chapters that follows, is part of my plan to revamp my _Coolsville Central_ series.**

**This revamp will incorporate everything related to Hanna-Barbera and the post-Crisis DC Comics continuity (With a basis from the DC Animated Universe) into this universe.**

**This series, whose overall information and story arc I don't think I had a chance to properly introduce in any of my stories pertained to Dimension One, of which this series' continuity takes place in, functions as my modern-day reboot of the _Scooby-Doo_ franchise, and the Hanna-Barbera universe to a lesser extent.**

**In this reboot, all human members of Mystery Inc. are born in the year 1995, which is also my year of birth. Also, expect elements from different aspects of the franchise to be incorporated into this reboot.**

**The elements in question came from the classic HB series, the early WB continuity, A Pup, SDMI and some of the post-2010 DTVs that I hated.**

**Also, as with all my Scooby stories that takes place in different universes/dimensions, I will be utilizing the following birthdays for the gang:**

**\- Scooby: September 8th, which is based on the original air date of TNSD Mysteries episode _Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo_. In addition, Don Messick's birthday is on September 7th**

**\- Shaggy: April 27th, which is also the birthday of Casey Kasem**

**\- Daphne: August 24th, which is also the birthday of Grey Griffin**

**\- Fred: June 30th**

**\- Velma: November 12th**

**Some bit of background information before I get on with the revamped story: For those of you are familiar with the franchise, you remember the series _A Pup Named Scooby-Doo_? This is the series that depicted the gang in junior high school solving mysteries. This is also the series that revealed that Shaggy's father is a Coolsville police officer.**

**As a fan of both Scooby-Doo and Batman, once I discovered this website where everyone can share their fan fiction works, I started to come up with ideas for Scooby-Doo stories. One of those ideas was to tell the origin on how the gang started to solve mysteries, as they do within the entire franchise.**

**In the past, I had saw a few fan websites dedicated to Scooby-Doo. One of those websites was the _Scooby-Doo Case Files_** **, which includes summaries of _Scooby-Doo Where Are You!_ episodes for Seasons 1 and 2. The part that caught my mind was the page that fully explained the unusual aspects of the series.**

**One of those unusual aspects were the law enforcement officers that appear at the end of most episodes to arrest the main villain of the episode, on how they managed to hold onto their jobs if they can't bring a crook of bad costume to justice.**

**That page got me going with my thoughts and ideas, and after reading a series of Batman graphic novels and the encyclopedia, which revealed Gotham as a city that has been suffering from corruption, in particular police corruption, I thought maybe that will explain why those law enforcement officers in the _Scooby-Doo_ franchise were portrayed as being incompetent, yet they somehow still managed to held onto their jobs.**

**With that in mind, I decided to use that as a way to set an origin as to how the gang started to solve mysteries. Also, remembering the graphic novel _Batman: Year One_ , which this fanfic is based on, I decided that since it has already established that Shaggy's father was a police officer, maybe I can use him to play on the role of James Gordon, where he fights for reform within a crooked Coolsville Police Department. As you would discover as you read along this fanfic, I established several events that are parallel to _Batman: Year One_.**

**I don't own Scooby-Doo or Dynomutt, Dog Wonder. All characters from both series belong to Hanna-Barbara Productions and Warner Bros. Also, story based on Batman graphic novel Batman: Year One., with Batman's copyright belonging to DC Comics.**

* * *

Chapter 1: At police headquarters

_January 8, 2001_

The story began, well, on a cold, early January morning during rush hour on a light metro train speeding down an elevated section of track through downtown Coolsville, Ohio, en route to the city's main railway station.

The metro vehicle was packed with commuters heading for work, and among the commuters were a certain middle-aged man in his early-forties named Samuel Chastain Rogers, who goes by the nickname "Sam".

Sam, armed with his briefcase, sat on a seat and glanced at his reflection on the glass window, noticing the hints of grey in his short dusty-brown hair.

He then glanced at his watch and noted that he has ten minutes before his appointment at Coolsville Central, which is the name of the headquarters of the Coolsville Police Department.

His appointment at Coolsville Central came three weeks after the command staff at the New York City Police Department Detective Bureau approved his transfer to the Coolsville Police Department, and upon his family's arrival in Coolsville the week before, just after New Years Day, he received an invitation to an appointment at Coolsville Central, where he is to meet with the chief of police.

His transfer came after sixteen proud years of service with the New York City Police Department, four of which were spent in patrol before moving to Narcotics Division of the Organized Crime Control Bureau upon his promotion to Detective, and eventually to the Detective Bureau where he eventually rose through the ranks to Lieutenant before his transfer to Coolsville.

Now, prior to his sixteen years of service in New York, Sam did serve in the Coolsville Police Department for a year before he was transferred to New York following an incident.

It was an incident that started to flash in his mind frequently when he was offered the transfer to Coolsville last month, and as he stared out of the window, he wondered if anything has changed in the city since he left sixteen years ago.

Shortly after, the train pulled into the platform of the city's downtown railway station, where Sam got off. The police headquarters is only a few blocks away, thus he should arrive at his new job in five minutes.

As Sam board off the train, he passed by a volunteer, asking him if he would like to donate.

Just as the lieutenant replied with a polite "No, thank you", he heard his name and rank being called from the crowd of commuters.

"Sam Rogers! Lieutenant Sam Rogers!" The voice called out.

Sam turned around and noticed a slender auburn-haired man with black eyes and slightly tall for a person in his 30s walking towards him.

As the man walked by the volunteer, who asked if he would like to donate, he gave the volunteer a punch and a kick before making his way to Sam Rogers.

"Almost thought I couldn't find you in this crowd, lieutenant." The man said.

He then offered Sam his hand as he introduced himself, "Sergeant Walter Claphammer. Chief of Police Lou Strickland sent me here to pick you up so you won't be late for your appointment with him."

"That sure is nice of the chief, Sergeant." Sam Rogers replies as they shook hands. "I'm pretty sure I might be late if I got myself held up in the crowded station platform."

"Yeah. He also figured that you might get lost, since this is your first time going to the Central." Claphammer said as he and Sam Rogers make their way to the exit.

"Well, I began my service in Coolsville before being transferred to New York City sixteen years ago, so I know my around the city, but thank you anyways, Sergeant." Sam said.

Claphammer nodded as they exited the railroad station. As they waited to cross the road at the crosswalk, Sam's mind began to flash to a certain time.

FLASHBACK - Sixteen Years Ago

_June 12, 1985_

A year has went by since Sam has joined the Coolsville Police Department following his graduation from the Ohio State College with a degree in criminology and his swearing-in as a new patrol officer.

During the year, Sam was on three months probation, partnered with Officer Mary Jane Beyak, who's a thirty-year veteran on the force.

After the end of his probation period, he was partnered with Officer Sebastian Dibbles, who happened to be the cousin of an Officer Charles "Charlie" Dibbles from the New York City Police Department that will eventually be partnered with Sam following his transfer to New York.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sam was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone tugging his arm. Looking up, he saw Claphammer pointing out that the crosswalk light has turned green.

Nodding, Sam followed Claphammer as they crossed the street.

Along the way to the Coolsville Police Department headquarters, Sam noticed that some of the buildings looked like they're in a state of decay, as well as the number of graffiti on the nearby walls.

"Huh." He muttered under his breath. "Things sure haven't changed since I've left for New York sixteen years ago."

"Well, on the bright side, Sam." Claphammer interjected. "At least that means that the city is still at the good times."

Sam nodded but thought otherwise. The "good times" only reminded him more about the incident that sent him to New York all those years ago.

Eventually, the two men arrived at the ten-storey Coolsville Central Building, which houses the headquarters of the Coolsville Police Department.

After going through the reception desk, the two men were on the elevator to the ninth floor, where the office of the chief of police is located at.

Moments later, Sam was seated at the waiting room, near the door to the chief's office, which had words posted on the glass window. It read:

"Louis 'Lou' Strickland

Chief of Police

City of Coolsville"

Seeing Strickland's name only led to Sam's frown to grow. As a matter a fact, the name reminded him on why he was transferred to New York in the first place.

The lieutenant at the floor told Sam that the chief will be with him in ten minutes, and that gave Sam plenty of time to think while Walter waited on the nearby hallway.

FLASHBACK - Sixteen Years Ago

_June 12, 1985_

That night, Sam, who was assigned to the Harbor Division's night patrol was patrolling his beat with Officer S. Dibbles as usual.

The patrol was largely uneventful as they patrolled the Docklands before passing by a certain warehouse before they heard something breaking.

"You heard that, Sam?" Dibbles asked as he stopped his young partner.

Sam nodded. "It's coming from that warehouse!"

Another glass break can be heard and Dibbles decided, "I'll take the north side. You take the south!"

Sam nodded as they prepared their pistols and then split up.

"Radio for backup if something bad happens." Dibbles added as they headed their separate ways.

Sam nodded again before he made his way to the south entrance of the warehouse and stood behind the wall with his pistol pointed towards the sky. He waited before taking a peek around the corner and caught sight of a broken window and a man entering through the nearby door into the warehouse.

Stealthy, the young patrol officer kept his back down, below the line of sight of the window, and promptly made his way through the opened door.

Some time later, a couple can be seen using a sickle-like tool to break open a crate and a large quantity of diamonds spilled out.

Seeing the couple stealing the diamonds, Sam knew that he had to step out of the shadows.

The couple were in the process of bagging their loot when suddenly, a voice shouted, "Freeze!"

The couple stopped what they were doing and turned, in time to see Sam emerging from the shadows with his gun drawn on them.

"Sam?" The woman asked, and Sam immediately recognized his former training officer.

"Mary Jane!" Sam exclaimed. "I should have known that you were up to no good!"

"This is none of your business, Sam!" Mary said as her husband produced a gun.

What happened next involved a scuffle, and Dibbles came rushing over when he heard two gunshots from the main storage room.

When he arrived, he saw Sam still holding his pistol while Mary Jane Beyak and her husband were on the floor, motionless.

END OF FLASHBACK

Sam snapped out of his thoughts when the lieutenant told him the Strickland was ready to see him.

Soon, Sam was seated in a chair, across the desk from Chief of Police Lou Strickland, who had his reading glasses on as he reviewed Sam's file.

"Strickland sure hasn't changed much after all those years." Sam thought to himself about the chief's physical appearance, other than his brown hair turning grey.

Sixteen years ago, Strickland was the captain in charge of the Harbor Division and is, in fact, the man who arranged for Sam's transfer to New York.

The transfer came after Strickland, on fear that the incident could bring him and other corrupt officers down, arranged for Sam's transfer to New York and an Internal Affairs investigation on Dibbles' actions.

Sam was reluctant on accepting the transfer, but when Strickland threatened him that Dibbles could get dismissed, and thus leaving him more exposed to the threats presented by the corrupt establishment, Sam had no choice but to accept the transfer.

However, months after the transfer and being partnered with Officer Charlie Dibbles, Sam got the news that Sebastian was killed in a gang shoot-out after his new partner failed to back him up.

Since then, Sam has held Strickland responsible for the death of his second partner as he made his way through the ranks.

"And now Strickland is the chief of police." Sam thought to himself as he watched Strickland. "I can't say that I'm surprised that things haven't changed at all after I was transferred to New York."

Sam looked around the office as Strickland reviewed his file, noticing the diplomas the chief had received in various institutions, including a bachelor's degree in criminology at the Ohio State University. Also there were the various medals and awards the chief had received during his years of service in the CPD.

There was also a map of both Coolsville County and Coolsville City, with a zoomed-out map of the state of Ohio by its side, hung on the wall of the chief's office.

Taking a brief look at the map, Sam noted that Coolsville is located several miles west from Cincinnati, near the state border with Indiana and Kentucky, while a small lake serves as a water border between the county and city.

"Lieutenant Samuel Chastain Rogers." Strickland said as took a look at the lieutenant's file. "An excellent record, an excellent detective who always gets results and a great person to work with."

The chief then placed the file on his desk and took off his glasses as he looked at Sam Rogers. "I'm glad to have you in as our latest addition to our team, Lieutenant. My only catch for you to be able to work here is that you put that incident behind and give us your best work."

"You will get my best work, sir. I promise." Sam replies. "And don't worry, I will not let an incident like the one at the Docklands in '85 repeat under my watch."

"Excellent." Strickland nodded. "We are a team. And it is through the hard work and teamwork of officers like you, together with team spirit, that allows the Coolsville Police Department function well as a whole. That's why I have a lot of emphasis on you providing your best work and put that incident behind you."

Strickland then handed the file back to Sam with a smile as he continued. "And as far as I know, your excellent record from the NYPD indicates that you have what it takes to be back in the team. So on behalf of the members of the CPD, I would like to welcome you back to the Coolsville Police Department."

After that remark, the chief offered Sam his hand. They shook.

"Thank you, sir." Sam replied after the handshake. "So what is my new assignment?"

"You will be the detective commander for the East Coolsville Division. Sergeant Claphammer is the second-in-command there, and you will be in charge of 40 detectives, including 10 guys that works homicide." Strickland replied. "Claphammer will drive you there."

"All right, then, sir. It is a pleasure meeting you again." Sam said as they once again shook hands before glancing at the nearby clock and added. "I think I should be on my way."

"Excellent. Your office is ready for you, lieutenant." Strickland replied as Sam stood up, ready to go.

Just before Sam made his way to the door, the chief said, "Oh, and one more thing, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir?" Sam asked as he turned to face the chief again.

"Don't forget your badge." Strickland said as he grabbed something from the drawing of his desk before handing it to him.

Sam took the moment to get the feel of his new badge, clipped onto its badge wallet.

The badge was in the shape of a shield, together with the words "Coolsville" and "Lieutenant" and the city's coat of arms, in addition to a badge number he immediately recognized as his old badge number during his one-year patrol prior to the transfer sixteen years ago, while the wallet itself has his police identification card on it.

Nodding, Sam clipped his new badge onto the belt of his pants before saying, "Thank you, chief."

"You're welcome." Strickland said. "And don't forget to wear that badge with pride. There's a reason you wear this badge, Lieutenant."

"Right, sir." Sam nodded again. "I won't forget that."

"Excellent." Strickland nodded in approval as Sam picked up his belongings and made his way out of the office, closing the door as he went.

Outside the office, Claphammer was seated at the chair next to the reception desk to the chief's office when Sam walked out. "All ready, Sam?"

"Yeah, Sergeant. Let's go." Sam replies as they make their way to the parking lot where Walter had parked his car.

"The drive should take only about 10 minutes, Sam." Walter added as they got into the car.

* * *

**Please read and review!**


	2. A Chat at the office and after work

Chapter 2: A chat at the office and after work

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a middle-aged man with short, blond-red hair was seated at his desk in his office located at the top of a 23-storey tall building.

The man in question is George Robert Nadley Blake, who's the owner of Blake Enterprises and is one of the most wealthiest citizens of Coolsville, with Blake Enterprises the city's largest employer.

Upon arriving at his office for work, George picked up the newspaper waiting for him on his desk, a routine he goes through every weekday, and started flipping through the pages.

The first thing that caught George's attention in the paper was Assistant District Attorney Nicolas Jaffe withdrawing charges of conspiracy against the city's top cop.

This was some frustrating news for George, as he had contributed $1 million to Jaffe's campaign for the District Attorney's Office.

Jaffe, a man of integrity with strict work ethics, is a firm opponent on the way things operate in the city, aware of the fact that the politicians that ran the city are crooked than a question mark, involving in bribery and a wide range of illegal activities that hampered development for the city.

In fact, the politicians that ran the city did nothing to address the city's high crime rate and the widening gap between the rich and poor.

While George himself is a millionaire, he believes that the poor deserve help from the city's powerful and wealthy.

One thing both Jaffe and Blake are aware of, is the fact that those crooked politicians aren't really the people in power. The person who held actual power in the city, is a notorious crime boss who is also a mastermind of disguise.

The name of the crime boss: Robert "Big Bob" Oakley, known through his alias, "The Actor".

Big Bob Oakley was a member of a gang of mobsters known for its members being able to commit crimes and get away with it through the use of the urban legends that has haunted Coolsville since its incorporation as a city in 1899. He went up the ranks within the gang before becoming its leader. After that, he was able to expand his criminal empire through the support of top city officials, including the incumbent mayor.

He had also found an ally in the police department in Chief of Police Lou Strickland, who had promised to cover up his activities with the help of officers who are also supportive of the crime boss.

Before long, he was the most powerful mob boss in Coolsville, engaging in a wide range of illegal activities, ranging from drug trafficking, counterfeiting, illegal gambling to planning the disappearance of key people who he considered to be a threat.

It was through that background knowledge of Oakley that led to Blake suspecting that the disappearance of that key witness during the chief's corruption trial was nothing more than the handy work of Oakley, who sought to eliminate people who could challenge his power and authority.

As a matter a fact, George was one of those people, but Oakley couldn't bring himself to do that, since George is the owner of the city's largest employers.

Getting rid of George, as well as top figures in Blake Enterprises, meant that Oakley will have to deal with a potential economic fallout that comes with the destabilization of Blake Enterprises, and without a single high-ranking Blake Enterprises official in his pocket, Oakley knew that that is one potential headache he'd rather avoid.

Jaffe was also on the list of people Oakley sought to eliminate. However, the assistant DA was too smart for Oakley to deal with, so Oakley turned to sabotage Jaffe's efforts to clean up the city.

As George Blake placed the newspaper into his briefcase, he was greeted by a knock on his office door.

"Come in," he says.

The door opened, and in came the Assistant District Attorney.

Nicholas Jaffe was a well-known lawyer in Coolsville who has been campaigning for reforming the city's corrupt establishment since the beginning of his law career.

The lawyer had previously represented clients who were wrongfully arrested by police for crimes they never committed, and it was his experience with the brutal reputation of the Coolsville Police Department led him to advocate for serious reforms and greater transparency.

Even after he managed to survive several attempts on his life during the course of his career, the lawyer wouldn't give up. He eventually made it to the District Attorney's Office and is now gearing for the occupation of the office in question.

George is his biggest contributor to his campaign, and the two had shared a good friendship.

"How are you doing, George?" Jaffe asked as a way of greeting as he took a seat.

"Doing all right, Nicholas." George replied. "I read on the paper that your key witness disappeared last night."

"Yeah." Nicholas replied with a sigh. "This just keeps on going on, and as far as I can tell, this is at least the second time this year that a key witness has disappeared. Every time I manage to find a witness who is willing to testify against those crooks, that witness disappears, leaving me to withdraw those charges, and I suspect it's that 'Actor' guy who is behind all of this."

"I agree, Nicholas." George replied. "I guess the only thing you can do right now is wishing that your next witness doesn't disappear."

"Yeah, I guess so." Jaffe replied. "Except that with these disappearances, my remaining witnesses will be afraid and then either alter their testimonies or just don't say a single word, resulting in the case going down in flames."

George nodded in agreement, unsure how to reply to the Assistant DA's remark.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam spent the rest of the workday getting to know the detectives working with him and doing some basic administrative work in his office.

The watch lieutenant is a man that goes by the name of Frank Suckle, while the senior patrol sergeant is Sergeant Daniel McBride, who's a twenty-year veteran on the force and is always seen with a serious expression on his face.

His office had windows facing both the squad room and outside, promoting air circulation and natural lighting through the sun outside. The detective unit is located in the squad room where Sam's office is facing, and consists of forty detectives. The forty detectives are sorted into investigating different types of crimes, such as homicide, robbery and domestic disputes.

Also located in the squad room is a watch office, where the watch sergeant, a guy with the name of Charles Goodwin, does his duties, supervising the officers at the reception at the public entrance. There was a locker room and a shower room for the patrol officers, along with several other rooms in the building for roll calls and assigning patrol cars.

Sam left for home at around 17:30, shortly after the night-shift lieutenant, with the name of Brain Crowley, arrived for the night shift.

The Rogers lived in an apartment in a small neighbourhood just west of downtown, and under the care of the Central-West Division. The drive from the East Coolsville station took about half an hour, and by the time he got home, his wife Wendy had just finished cooking supper.

Wendy Rogers worked as an accountant in a marketing firm, which had an office in Coolsville.

Around the time her husband was offered the transfer, the firm she was working for offered her an opening in its Coolsville office, which she accepted. As a result, there wasn't a need for her to quit her job back in New York when her husband got transferred.

Also waiting at home were the couple's five-year-old son, Norville, and three-year-old daughter, Maggie.

Since the move to Coolsville, Wendy and Sam has managed to find a daycare for Maggie and a kindergarten for Norville.

Wendy's typical day goes like this: Drop Maggie off at the daycare and Norville at the kindergarten on her way to work at 8:45, arrive at work at around 9:00, have lunch at around 11:55, resume work at 13:00, and then head home at 16:30, picking up the children on the way.

Like their parents, Norville and Maggie both had light brown hair. The fact that they had large appetites meant that Wendy has to work hard on cooking meals.

* * *

Meanwhile, after his meeting with the assistant DA, George Blake spent the rest of the day at business meetings and working in his office before heading home at 17:30.

Unlike the Rogers, the Blakes lived in a small mansion at the quiet suburban neighbourhood of Glenborough, a neighbourhood that is located in the city's suburban west end and is in the care of the City West Division.

From what Sam heard from other officers, the City West Division is the city's largest geographical police division, and yet the officers and detectives at that division had one of the lightest workloads, specifically at Glenborough.

Another thing that differentiates the Rogers from the Blakes was the fact that due to their status as one of the richest citizens in Coolsville, they can afford the hiring of butlers to take care of the mansion while the Blakes are at work.

That also meant that George's wife Elizabeth doesn't need to do the cooking, as she can let the family cook do it, though for the most part, she still does some cooking of her own.

"Honey, I'm home." George says as he hung up his coat upon being greeted by the family butler Jenkins Pennyworth.

"How was everything over at the company?" Elizabeth asks as she greets her husband with a kiss.

"It's business as usual, Elizabeth." George replied as he took off his suit jacket. "The Assistant DA came to my office this morning for a chat."

"I see." Elizabeth replies as they walked to the living room. "I saw the news today about Jaffe's withdrawal of charges against that useless police chief, and I can't say that I'm surprised about someone from the underworld hampers Nicholas's efforts to clean up a city that is badly in need of reform."

"Yeah. I sure am worry about the way things turns out for the city, since this is the very city that Daphne will be growing up in." George replies as he and Elizabeth watches their daughter watching television.

Elizabeth nodded solemnly as Daphne seemed to be enjoying herself.

The optimist, joyful mood and innocence on Daphne's face sure is a huge contrast to the gloomy mood of the city she'll be growing up in.


	3. Fallout and a beating

Chapter 3: Fallout and a beating

_January_ _19, 2001_

It has been almost two weeks since Sam started his new job at the Coolsville Police Department. During that time, he also got to meet the commander for East Coolsville Division, Captain Jason Hindley, as well as the commander of East Bureau, Commander Rupert Gosnell. Both men seemed welcoming to Sam, and had repeated the chief's emphasis of him providing his best work.

However, as he settled down with his new work as the detective commander of the station, Sam started to become increasingly aware that things have not changed at all in Coolsville, as he was unable to keep the 1985 incident at the Docklands out of his mind.

As a matter a fact, he can't help but notice the frequent, what he considered to be unethical conduct of officers working in the division at work everyday. Even though he did occasionally encounter similar conduct back in his days in New York, the fact that he sees those type of conduct everyday at work gave him the feeling that the department hasn't changed at all since his transfer to New York sixteen years back.

As he was putting the newspaper into his briefcase, Claphammer came to his office and said, "Sam, we've got a call out and we need to get over to Woodwerns Groceries at William Snyder Avenue. It was a robbery with a guy behind the counter with stab wounds."

"All right then, Claphammer. Let's get going." Sam replies as he got his keys out, ready to lock his office door before following his partner to their department-assigned car.

As Claphammer drove their department-assigned car to the crime scene, he said, "What did I told you about the newspaper, Sam?"

"What about it?"

"I thought I told you not to trust the information the newspaper provides or from any single news report."

"You didn't." Sam said but then raised an eyebrow. "What problem do you have with me getting the paper every day?"

"Let's just say that the news about the chief facing conspiracy charges is totally false, and believe me, man, the way things are running in the department is the best for the city. We don't need the biased media to tell us what we are doing wrong." Claphammer replies in a calm but firm tone.

"It's called accountability, Claphammer." Sam replied. "News media plays an important role in our democratic society. Without news media, who can hold our government accountable if we don't have media to inform us what is going on?"

"You do realize that there is such thing as fake news, huh?" Claphammer said. "They're run by people who always have nothing better to do than criticizing the government and the police chief with the intention of drawing attention to themselves, and believe me, Sam, the way things are in the city is the best."

Sam was left speechless by his partner's remark and fuming, he was about to say something before changing his mind and stayed silent.

The two spent the rest of the drive in silence, until Claphammer pulled the car into the curb of the road.

"In heavens name, Claphammer, what are you doing?" Sam asks, noticing the fact that they weren't at their destination. "We have a robbery to check out and –"

"Stay in the car, Sam. I'll be right back." Claphammer replies as he gets off the car.

As Sam looked on, Claphammer walked over to a group of teenagers gathering near a vandalized garbage bin.

One of them, upon seeing Claphammer, blurted out "Oh, no" and turned to walk away.

However, Claphammer managed to catch up with him, grabbed him by the shoulder, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled the boy towards him and said "What on earth are you doing here, Jake? Aren't you supposed to be at school right now?"

Then, to Sam's astonishment, his partner proceeded to punch and kick the boy known as Jake, while the other boys looked on, not moving a muscle.

As Sam watched his partner beating up the boy, the frown on his face grew.

Finally, Claphammer finished beating the boy, but not before lifting him up and dropping him in the garbage bin. He then returned to the car as the boys went to carry Jake out of the garbage bin.

His partner then shifted the car into drive, and they carried on to their destination.

After several uncomfortable moments, Sam finally broke the silence. "Was that really necessary?"

"Oh come on, Sam. That guy had this knife in his pocket and was skipping school." Claphammer replied with a laugh, not taking Sam's question seriously as he handed the "knife" to Sam.

Sam took a look at the item, but it turned out to be a comb.

He turned to his partner with a frown, saying "Seriously?"

"That was just for precaution, Sam."

"Oh, yeah? What will you do if that boy sues you for what you had done?"

"That won't happen, Sam. The kid is scared of me. He won't have the balls to launch a lawsuit against me."

"Then, I guess I'll have to let Internal Affairs know what you had done, Claphammer."

"Yeah, yeah. Internal Affairs." Claphammer says with a mocking tone. "They won't give a you-know-what on what I did. Not while I have the man on the ninth floor on my back."

Sam was stunned by his partner's last remark and the anger inside him only grew, together with his suspicions.

They spent the rest of the drive in silence. Sam refused to speak to his partner after that conversation, as he was too angry to even think of a response.

He couldn't believe his partner, a Sergeant in the police department, who should be investigating crimes, who should be mentoring younger, inexperienced detectives, who should be supervising the detective unit in the division, would do such a thing.

But then again, he figured that he can't be surprised by what he had just witnessed.

After all, this is Coolsville, and he knew first thing just how corrupt the city is, especially from the incident at the Docklands back in 1985 with his former training officer and her husband breaking into a warehouse and stealing diamonds.

* * *

_February_ _20, 2001_

A month went by since Sam witnessed his partner beating up a teenage boy just because he was armed with a "knife", which turned out to be nothing other than a comb. During this time, he made the determination to set things right through the establishment of a set of new rules that he expects his men to follow.

First, all of the detectives in his unit are to follow orders from him directly, not from Claphammer, and he makes sure personally that they are not slacking off and are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Next, he made sure the officers and detectives don't come back with anything suspicious on their person. That includes extra cash obtained through bribes and drugs.

Third and foremost, he had placed a strict, zero-tolerance policy on breaking his rules.

Officers who broke his rules would be disciplined, which includes being placed on probation.

One of those officers placed on probation was Detective Sean Oldfield, who got into a heated argument with Sam after Sam stepped in and stopped him from accepting a bribe from a drug dealer, who was then arrested by Sam in spite of Oldfield's protests.

Those new rules were unpopular with some in his unit, and had also landed him into trouble with both Captain Hindley and Commander Gosnell. Both men were concerned that Sam hasn't changed at all since his transfer to New York following the incident at the Docklands and have tried to reason with the lieutenant.

Gosnell was the one who had a talk with Sam in his office, but it ended with the commander threatening to have Sam dismissed as Sam angrily walked away from the commander's office.

Claphammer was also unhappy about what Sam is doing, since Sam is making massive changes to the way the squad operates, which is different than the way the other police divisions operates in the city, including Sam's zero-tolerance on accepting bribes. In addition, he had took away much of his authority in the squad, as the detectives are now forced to comply from Sam's orders and rules.

After seeing Sam's angry conversation with Gosnell, he decided to jump command by going to the chief to talk about what Sam is doing.

That afternoon, the chief listened silently in his office as Claphammer describes what Sam is doing, mentioning one time while on a case, while Sam is shaking hands with a convicted con-man, the con-man slipped a one-hundred dollar bill into Sam's hand during the handshake.

"And then he sees the $100 bill, looked at his hand as if his hand got a disease on it, and threw the bill right into the guy's face." Claphammer says, finishing the description of the event before continuing, "And then, every morning, he gives the squad a 2-hour lecture on some boring junk he believed to be important, and get this, he had placed Oldfield on probation for arguing with him over his move of forcing Oldfield to refuse the bribe from this drug dealer, as well as trying to help that guy escape from custody."

After taking a deep breath, Claphammer looks up at Strickland and said. "I'm telling you, Lou. That lieutenant is just not fitting in."

"I see what you meant, Walter." Strickland replies with a frown. "I had high hopes for Rogers on being able to fit into our team, especially after that unfortunate incident at the Docklands back in 1985, and now we realized how much he hasn't changed at all. I was hoping you can find out some way to teach him a lesson."

"I sure do, Lou." Walter replies with a smirk. "I can use the boys to soften him up. That should teach him a lesson for trying to make the squad _his_ squad."

"Sounds like a good idea, Walter. But you better not do it while I'm in town, because there is already enough heat on me as it is right now. Wait until I'm away for that police chief's conference in Washington next week."

* * *

After the discussion in the office, Claphammer walked out with a smirk on his face.

As he waited for the elevator, he ran into Commander Gosnell, who was at the ninth floor of Central for another pressing matter.

"So Walter..." Gosnell says after making sure that no one was around listening. "What did Lou say about dealing with the way Rogers is running the squad?"

Prior to meeting with the chief, Claphammer confided with the commander on his topic of discussion with Strickland about Sam's conduct.

"I can use the guys in my squad to soften him up, Rupert. That's the only way for us to teach him a lesson, I'm afraid." Claphammer replied as the elevator doors opened and he and Gosnell walked into the car.

"Well, as long as he changes his mind on how things should operate in the department, then we're good."

* * *

_February 28, 2001_

A few days later, one night at the parking lot behind East Coolsville Division, Sam walked to his car, which was parked in the dimly-lighted part of the parking lot.

As he made his way to his car, he saw three figures with ski masks and baseball bats walking towards him. They then swing their bats at Rogers, who ducked and counterattacked before he suddenly felt something hitting him in the head.

As it turned out, more men in ski masks showed up behind him. They first knocked him down and then beat him with their bats. During that beating, Sam recognized laughter from behind one of the ski masks.

"Claphammer." Sam thought to himself before blacking out. Before that happens, he heard a voice warning him that they will go after his wife if he continues to run the squad the way he does.


	4. Getting even and a hostage situation

Chapter 4: Getting even and a hostage situation

Sam was lucky to be all right. He only suffered from a black eye and bruises in the ribs, and no broken bones.

His injuries weren't bad enough to keep him in the hospital, so he was able to continue on working.

In the days since the beating, Sam came up with a plan to get even with his partner, who masterminded the beating.

The officers involved in the beating were smart to keep their identities concealed with the help of ski masks, but Claphammer' laughter gave him away during the beating, allowing Sam to figure out who was behind the beating.

* * *

_March 4, 2001_

That evening, after telling Wendy that he had to take care of an emergency, Sam was driving his car with a baseball bat on the passenger seat by the side of the driver's seat.

During the drive, he spoke into his departmental-issued radio, on the channel used by the station's shift supervisor.

"Wembley, I will like to know if Claphammer is on duty now." He spoke.

It took a few moments for Wembley to come back to Sam, replying, "Claphammer? He's off duty, lieutenant. He's probably over at the East End playing poker with the guys."

"With the guys," Sam thought after thanking Wembley.

He had an idea who Claphammer will normally hang out with, and he know that they normally hang out at one of the guys house, which is located in the eastern suburbs of the city, at a community close to the city's rural border with the county.

With that in mind, Sam drove on to his destination.

An hour later, Sam was parked at the house in question with the lights out as he watched the house.

By then, the sun had completely set, which makes it hard for anybody passing by to see him in the car.

He waited patiently. Soon, at around 21:30, the door to the house opens, and a man Sam instantly recognized as Detective Oldfield came out. Oldfield got into his car and then drove off, not noticing his lieutenant was watching him.

Sam knew that Oldfield has a wife and another girlfriend waiting for him, hence the reason why he had left early.

Another thirty minutes went by before another man exited the house.

It was Officer Joshua Roven, who also looked hunched as he staggered his way to his car.

Sam shook his head in disapproval at the thought of his men having had plenty of drinks during the poker game before driving home.

"Figures." Sam thought to himself as he watched Roven looking hunched as if he had just lost his life savings while walking to his car. "Must be a high-stakes poker game."

Sam also let him be and continued waiting.

Another hour of waiting went by before Sam's efforts finally paid off as Claphammer came out of the door.

He was clearly intoxicated, yet he climbed into his car and backed it out of the driveway.

It took a near collision with a fire hydrant before he remembered to turn on the headlights. After that, he drove off and Sam followed, keeping the headlights of his car off.

Sam continued to follow his partner as he drove onto a two-lane highway that leads off through a forest before exiting the city.

After several minutes of driving without seeing a house, Sam sped up and ran his partner's car off the road, causing Claphammer to crash into a tree in the woods.

At that time, Claphammer was driving 20 miles over the speed limit, but luckily it wasn't fast enough for him to end up in a box when the car crashed into the tree.

Claphammer managed to get out of the car unharmed, but then he saw Sam with a gun aimed at him.

"Why,...Sam." Claphammer slurred as the lieutenant walked towards him with a gun on him.

"Here's the deal, pal." Sam said. "You drop your weapon, and I'll drop mine."

Claphammer nodded before letting go of his service weapon. Sam then followed suit before tossing the baseball bat towards him for his partner to catch.

From his observation of Claphammer's moves during the time he beat up Jake, Sam can tell that his partner had Green Beret training.

"It's been a long while since I took out one Green Beret." Sam thought to himself.

Claphammer nodded and smirked before using the bat to try to take down Sam in the same fashion he did during the beating a week ago.

However, Sam was able to anticipate several of Walter's moves and ducked successfully before disarming him, as there was no one around to witness the fight, nor was Walter's gang nearby.

After that, Sam proceeded to take out his partner by punching him dozens of times.

With his partner on the ground, not moving, Sam then took one of Claphammer' handcuffs and proceeded to handcuff his partner.

He had also taken off much of Claphammer clothes and then grabbed Claphammer' service weapon and tossed it into the nearby creek.

Afterwards, he took the baseball bat, went back to his car and drove away, leaving his partner cuffed and naked in the snow-covered forest.

As he drove away, Sam thought to himself, "Thanks for teaching me what it takes to be a cop in Coolsville, Claphammer."

* * *

_March 6, 2001_

Two days later, in the morning, Sam was going through some reports in his office when he saw his partner walking into the squad room with a cast around his arm and shoulder. He was also bandaged and had some bruises in his face.

"Holy cow, Walter!" One of the detectives exclaimed when he sees Claphammer, "What on earth happened to you, man?"

"Oh, it happened after the poker party, Sean." Walter said with a pained expression. "I was on my way home when some guys, at least a dozen of them, from one of Big Bob's rival gangs ran me off the road and beat the stuffing out of me."

"Holy cats! I hope you get better soon, Walter."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

Sam smiled to himself as he overheard the conversation between Claphammer and Oldfield.

He knew his partner won't tell on him and will make up some story involving at least a dozen attackers and will never admit that he did it to him.

"But he did learn," Sam thought as he continued on reading the stack of reports, "I sure taught him to leave Wendy alone."

* * *

_March 27, 2001_

Three weeks or so went by after Sam had got even with his partner. In the weeks since that beating, many of the officers and detectives in his squad are following Sam's new rules, with less cases of officers being placed on probation, which impressed Sam.

The new work environment also led to an increase of cases closed by his division, which also made him happy to think that he has begun making a difference at work.

However, while Commander Gosnell was happy to see the change in weekly statistics, he was not impressed with how Sam was making the changes.

That mid-morning, Sam was doing some paperwork in his office when the phone ringed.

"Rogers, East Coolsville Division." He said as he picked up the phone.

"Lieutenant, Commander Gosnell here. I want you in my office, right now." Gosnell replied at the other end with a stern tone in his voice.

"Are you kidding me, Commander? I'm in the middle of some important stuff now and I can't leave my office."

"Doesn't matter, Rogers. I want you to be at my office, right now."

"In your dreams, Commander. You are just wasting my time and your own time."

"Oh, is that right? Say this one more time and –" Sam instantly hung up the phone before the commander could finish his threat.

With a huff, Sam continued on with his paperwork.

He was almost finished when someone knocked on his office door. Turning and looking towards the door, he saw Sergeant McBride standing at the doorway.

"Yes?" Sam asked.

"Sir, what was the commander calling you for?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, he was trying to get me to see him in his office and I'm in the middle of some important stuff right now, and I can tell you that he wanted me to explain the meaning of running the squad this way."

McBride shook his head in response. "I figured. That guy is wasting his time."

"Yeah."

After the conversation with McBride, Sam managed to finish his paper work when the door opened.

In came Commander Gosnell, who had a frown on his face.

"Rogers. What is the meaning of this?" He asked with a venomous tone in his voice.

"I had no idea, Commander, but I thought you've got better things to do right now instead of calling me to your office and demand an explanation on the way I'm running this squad." Sam replied with a calm but firm voice.

"Oh, is that so, Lieutenant? To me, getting you straight is an important thing to do. The watch lieutenant and Captain Hindley are concerned about the way you are running this squad."

"Getting me straight, eh? You're just wasting your time trying to convince me that the way things are doing right now is the best and that I don't have to meddle with that. If fact, I don't care what those two men think. They can report on me if they want, but they're not making me back down."

"That's what you think, Rogers, but all I can tell you is that if you continue to try to meddle with the way the department is running, I can and will have the chief dismiss you. Besides, you didn't seem to have learned your lesson after the Incident of '85 at the Docklands."

"Yeah, yeah, forcing me to consider early retirement. You should know that covering up many of the department's problems isn't the way to go, Commander." Sam said with a sarcastic tone in his voice when referring to Gosnell's rank, "And besides, that shooting was in self-defense. Bayek shouldn't have raided the warehouse with her husband the way they did that night, and I will do it again if I were to face a corrupt cop breaking into the warehouse and stealing cargo."

"Right then." Gosnell huffed. "Looks like Internal Affairs is going to open a file on you, Lieutenant."

"Yeah, right. Unfortunately for you, Commander, Claphammer has taught me not to be afraid of Internal Affairs. You're only wasting taxpayers money and IA's time if you do that." Sam says before spotting a hand signal from one of his officers out at the window and added, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a homicide to check out and investigate."

With that, he walked out of his office, locking the door in the process, and walked by Gosnell without acknowledging him as he made his way to the parking lot.

* * *

_April 3, 2001_

A week after Sam had his heated conversation with Commander Gosnell, Sam was driving his departmental car in the busy Coolsville traffic on a raining morning, en route to meet up with the division's patrol unit, who had responded to a hostage situation earlier that morning.

He had his radio on so McBride can keep him up-to-date on what is going on at the scene.

"Daniel. What's the current situation?" Sam asked as he stopped at a red light.

"The same as before, sir. No shots fired yet. The man still had gun pointing at the girl's head." McBride responded.

The hostage situation the patrol unit had responded to was located in the neighbourhood of East Dote, a neighbourhood that is currently pending redevelopment.

What had happened was that patrol had received a tip on where the notorious kidnapper Johnny Hardy is hiding out. When patrol arrived at the apartment, they spotted Hardy, who had a girl that was kidnapped as a hostage.

The officers tried to talk him into surrendering, but the man headed back into the apartment and, where he then got his gun and went to the window facing the officers, threatening to open fire unless the officers back away.

Due to Sam's experience as a crisis negotiator during his service in New York and with the Marines while serving in the Gulf War, McBride had to radio him in to end the situation.

Just as the light turned green, Sam was about to hit the gas when McBride radioed in, saying, "Uh oh, sir. We've got trouble, sir."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Before hearing a response, he heard McBride trying to tell someone to stand down, and he instantly became alert when McBride says, "It's Anders, sir."

The message had only consisted of three words, but that was enough for Sam to activate the siren on his car, steer it onto a sidewalk and speed up.

"Anders." He muttered as he sped through the sidewalk with pedestrians moving out of the way.

Lieutenant Clifford Anders is the commander of the departments paramilitary SWAT unit. Whenever there was a riot or any acts of violence that required SWAT assistance, Anders would lead his SWAT team to sort things out, often with destructive, and in some cases, fatal consequences.

FLASHBACK – One Month Ago

Sam had got the newspaper that morning as usual, and the first thing that caught his eye was a news report on the front page, which covered the riot that took place at South Coolsville.

It all began when the Coolsville basketball team got eliminated in the state championship finals, and angry fans took to the streets to vent their frustrations at how the game unfolded, as the Coolsville team had a huge lead early in the game.

The whole thing subsequently escalated into a riot when the mob of angry fans started destroying property as they went, forcing the department to deploy Anders' SWAT team to calm the riot.

The result: There wasn't a glass window in the area that wasn't shattered when the SWAT team moved in to calm the riot. Not even a single statue was left standing, and there wasn't a rioter or a passerby who didn't stay in the hospital overnight.

END OF FLASHBACK

Knowing for a fact that Anders had a history of leading his team to do a lot of damage, Sam knew that meant only one thing after hearing that Anders was at the scene.

"There is going to be a massacre." Sam thought to himself as he pressed the gas pedal down further.

* * *

Meanwhile at the scene, much of Anders SWAT unit have moved out of their transport van.

The officers at the scene and McBride were trying to convince Anders to stand down, yielding unsuccessful results as the time dragged on.

"Lieutenant," McBride was saying, "There's no need for your team to storm that guy with the gun. It's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito."

"I don't care, Sergeant." Anders retorted. "We're losing time now, and I don't see your soft-hearted lieutenant anywhere, and –"

Anders didn't have time to finish when his attention was drawn to a car pulling up at the scene, narrowly missing some people who are watching the drama unfold. The car then stopped, and out came Lieutenant Sam Rogers.

Sam looked around as he got off his car. There was a media van parked nearby, and a reporter was standing in front of a camera man, reporting the situation.

Sam then walked over to McBride and Anders. All of Anders' men retreated when they saw the approaching lieutenant, and there was a sea of "Oh, man", "Aw, nuts" and "It's Rogers" with unmistakable moaning coming from Anders' men as they retreated.

"Daniel, tell the officers to stand down. I'll handle this." Sam said.

He then turned to Anders and said with a calm but stern tone in his voice, "Anders, I don't see why is it necessary for you to show up to try to deal with this hostage situation? It would be better if you go somewhere else to start your own war. Either that, or I can have charges pressed against you."

With that, Sam walked towards the entrance of the building, which was in a state of disrepair.

At the entrance, he looked up, making eye contact with Hardy, pulled out his gun, showed it to Hardy, and then he placed it on the ground. He then walked into the building.

"I hope Wendy isn't watching this." Sam thought to himself as he entered the building.

* * *

Meanwhile at home, Sam's wife Wendy was watching the news channel and when the news reporting on the hostage situation came, she looked on anxiously.

At the sight of her husband showing his gun, placing it on the ground and walking into the condemned building, Wendy gasped.

Fortunately, Norville and Maggie were having a nap, so they didn't see what was going on in the news.

* * *

Back in the building, Sam carefully made his way up the wooden stairs.

There were cracks on most of the wood and the walls, which has graffiti on it.

As he climbed the stairs, he didn't notice a stray cat watching him from the top of another set of stairs.

Soon, he made it to the top of the stairs and that's when the door burst open and out came Hardy, still armed with the gun and aiming it to the girl.

"Now, now, mister. Calm down." Sam says as he raised his hands to calm down the man. "I won't hurt you if you do what I told you. Everything is going to be alright."

However, the man replied with a retort. "You're not taking me in, officer!"

Just as Sam was thinking of saying something, the stray cat suddenly hissed loudly, frightening the kidnapper who turned the gun away from the girl.

Seizing the opportunity, Sam quickly slapped the gun away from Hardy.

Hardy, taken aback from what Sam has done, tried to punch Sam, but Sam managed to dodge the punch and then returned with a kick that caused Hardy to lose his balance and fell flat on the floor.

Swiftly, Sam walked over to Hardy and handcuffed him as he said, "Mr. Hardy, you're under arrest for kidnapping, resisting arrest, and attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent."

As Hardy groaned from the pain, Sam radioed in and say, "McBride. We have an all-clear. Send me two men up to pick up Hardy."

"On the way, sir." McBride radioed back.

After the two officers came and read Hardy his constitutional rights and freedoms, Sam walked into the room where Hardy was hiding in before his arrest.

In the room, he found 5 other children, all shivering and shaken up by the ordeal, and the girl.

Sam crouched down as he looked at the children, ensuring them that they are now in safe hands.

After that, he thought of something and placed his hand into his pocket.

From the pocket, he pulled out a pack of chewing gum, opened it, and then showed it to the children and said, "Gum?"


	5. A hero in Coolsville and a falcon is born

Chapter 5: A hero in Coolsville and a falcon is born

_April 4, 2001_

The next day, Sam's act of heroism had all of Coolsville buzzing, as his act of bravery was constantly mentioned in the Coolsville Gazette, which had the following headline on the front page:

"HERO COP

Police lieutenant Sam Rogers takes down kidnapper and rescues six hostages in East Dote"

The headline of the paper was accommodated with a photo of Sam posing with the six children, all with smiles on their faces as Hardy was taken into police custody.

In addition, the news of Sam's brave act was constantly broadcast on the news as Coolsville's top story.

At work, many of the officers and detectives went over to praise Sam for his act of heroism, with one of them making a photocopy of the newspaper headline and have it framed in the squad room, which was meant to show the officers from the other divisions that they're working with the hero lieutenant.

However, not everyone is happy with what Sam had done the day before.

One of those people was the chief of police, who had a copy of the newspaper waiting for him in his office when he arrived at his office that morning.

Strickland was examining the photo of Sam and the rescued children on the front page with a frown on his face when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened, and in came Lieutenant Anders, who had a frustrated look on his face.

"That mediocre!" Anders says angrily as he took a seat. "I can't believe what happened yesterday!"

"Don't tell me you're angry on what Rogers did to you yesterday, Cliff." Strickland replied.

"You got it, Lou. I was about to send in my unit to storm that blasted kidnapper, and that jerk just has to show up at the last minute and dismiss me." Cliff huffed. "All he had to do was unarm himself, go in and knock the stuffing out of that guy, while I had to stand by and do nothing as his men went in and grab the guy in handcuffs.

Gritting his teeth, Anders then added, "That showoff humiliated me in front of my own men and everyone in Coolsville, Lou."

"Yeah. That lieutenant is nothing but _trouble_ , that one." Strickland replied as he shook his head, with Anders nodding in agreement. "I was wishing I had acted early when Walter and Rupert came to me and warned me about him, and I just have to agree to Walter's stupid plan to soften Rogers up, and now look at how that plan backfired on him. I wish I had done something sooner."

"Yeah, I wish I can help you on what to do, Lou." Anders replied with sympathy in his voice.

"Thanks for your support, Cliff." Strickland replied as he looked back at the newspaper headline. "We will eventually find a way to get rid of that honest Rogers, but for now we have to be patient. Rogers got the media on his side."

* * *

In the same time, Oakley was seated in his office at his penthouse at another part of town with his henchmen.

The crime boss known as "The Actor" was clearly not happy as he got to the point after his summoned henchmen entered his office.

"I don't want any excuses!" Oakley says as the henchmen took their seats. "I want to know why exactly Hardy was allowed to remain free for so long, allowing that meddling lieutenant to become a hero. You guys should have done your job of bumping him off months ago and it is obvious that you didn't listen!"

"Boss, we did everything we were instructed-" One of the henchmen tried to explain before the boss exploded.

"Then, how do you explain this?!" Oakley bellowed as he threw the newspaper onto the desk, scaring the henchmen in the process. "That meddling lieutenant is threatening they way I run things in this city, and thanks to his taking down of Hardy, the police department has to be careful dealing with him."

Oakley took a deep breath before continuing, "For failing to comply with that order, Small Jack, you are not entitled to get a share of our drug trafficking and counterfeiting profits for two weeks. Be thankful that I'm not a cruel, ruthless leader, because if I was, then this is what would've happened to you!"

Oakley then raised a finger and slowly slides it across his throat and Small Jack swallowed.

"Is that understood?" Oakley asked.

"Y-y-yes, boss." The gangsters all replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, George Blake was seated on his chair in his office reading the newspaper.

Reading about Sam's exploits on the front page, George nodded in approval as he wondered if there is hope in his city after all.

After putting away the paper, George swirled around and looked at the clock before straightening his tie and got up.

His aide was at the door when he exited his office.

"Your car is ready, sir." The aide said.

"Thank you, Carl." George nodded before heading for the elevators.

Moments later, he was on the highway en route to the Coolsville Daws Butler International Airport, where Blake Enterprises has a private airfield.

Upon arriving at the company's private airfield, George parked his car and made his way to the landed private business jet, where a young man was waiting for him.

"Radley, how are you?" George asked as he went to shake hands with the blonde-haired man, who he immediately recognized as his old friend Radley Crown.

"I'm doing good, George." Radley smiled as they shook hands. "Thank you."

Radley Crown is a robotic technician and engineer and is George's junior partner is setting up Blake Enterprises. He runs the company's technological research and development branch, which is currently involved in a major joint research project on robotics with the Gotham-based Wayne Technologies.

"I hope you find the rest you needed, Radley." George says as they made their way to his waiting car. "After what you've went through."

Radley nodded. "I met with Bruce after that near-miss in Gotham, and he gave me some words of encouragement to translate my family tragedies into actions that can make a difference."

Radley came from a wealthy, privileged family in Coolsville with personal and business connections to the Blakes and the Gotham-based Waynes.

However, the wealth of his parents did nothing to avert a tragedy that struck one night in the spring of 1984, when Radley was only ten years old.

FLASHBACK - Seventeen Years Ago

_May 10, 1984_

That fateful night, Radley and his parents were returning home from a movie in downtown Coolsville and decided to take a short cut through Tex Avery Lane.

However, upon entering the dark alley, the family of three were held-up by a mugger that demanded the pearl necklace of Radley's mother.

When the woman's husband stepped in to defend his wife, the mugger fired two shots.

In slow motion, Radley watched his parents taking the hits and collapsed to the ground. The mugger then turned to him and for a brief moment, Radley stared at him.

"Stop looking at me like that, kid!" The mugger said nervously as he aimed his weapon towards the boy.

Before the thug could fire the shot, sirens can be heard in the distance and the man quickly fled the scene.

Within minutes, the scene became filled with Coolsville's Finest as the police investigates the shooting while a particular officer tries to comfort the boy.

END OF FLASHBACK

Radley eventually travelled overseas at the companion of his guard dog Reggie, who came to bond with him.

However, that happiness didn't last long. During the trip to Gotham, Reggie was hit by a stray bullet during a drive through a crime-infested neighbourhood of the city.

Desperate to save his dog, Radley found someone from Wayne Tech. that agreed to help him save Reggie's life.

The result is a recovered Reggie that now has super-strength, can produce gadgets and stretch his neck and legs.

George nodded but frowned. "I hope you know what you're doing, Radley."

* * *

Later that night, back in his manor, Radley sat at his fireplace as he looked at the portrait of his family with the television on, which was on a channel that was broadcasting a program on nature at the moment.

He then decided to pass the time by changing to the news channel.

However, before he could reach the remote, the television screen showed a falcon swooping down at a swamp rat in an aggressive fashion and caught its prey before flying off.

At that moment, something in Radley clicked.

Turning off the television instead, he looked up at the portrait of his family once more and looked right into the eyes of his father.

"That's right, father." He said to his father's still in the family portrait. "I will become a falcon myself!"

He then whistled for Reggie to come to the living room.


	6. Enter the falcon and the Hound of Baskervilles

Chapter 6: Enter the falcon and the Hound of Baskervilles

_April 11, 2001_

A week later, Coolsville started to be rocked by a series of reports of the sighting of a vigilante dressed as a falcon and a robot dog appearing at night.

The night before, a trio of breaking and entering robbers was found in a dazed state on the fire escape, and while giving a resume of what had took place that night, they all claimed to see a man dressed as a giant falcon appearing out of nowhere while they were making off with their loot.

The men tried to fight the giant falcon, but then a robot dog appeared out of nowhere and knocked them out.

"I could have sworn that dog was a devil!" One of the robbers was later heard saying while being taken to an ambulance. "I swear!"

"I'm telling you!" Another said to the officers arresting him. "It was a giant falcon!"

"Yeah, right." One of the officers can be heard remarking.

* * *

_April 16, 2001_

A few days later, Sam is in the squad room giving the squad a lecture as usual.

This time, the prime focus was on the mysterious vigilantes.

He had witness sketches of the vigilantes displayed on the projector screen, with all of the detectives in the squad, except for Claphammer, who is in a wheelchair and was bandaged almost everywhere, watching the screen and taking notes.

"So as you can see, gentlemen," Sam says, beginning the lecture as he gestured towards the screen, "This vigilantes, better known as 'The Blue Falcon' and the 'Demon Hound' through witness accounts of him dressed in dark blue and being in the shape of a falcon and accompanied by a canine companion that I don't think is canine at all, has committed at least 60 counts of assault in the past week."

He then turned to the slide that has a sketch done in better detail of the vigilantes as he continued, "While the vigilentes have been careful to remain unpredictable, in terms for selecting neighbourhoods for their assaults, they consistently operate between the times of midnight and five in the early morning."

Taking a sip of his coffee, Sam continued, "They have been working their way up the food chain of crime, starting first with the common, street and low-level crimes like mugging, all the way up to the bigger fish, which includes any law enforcement officer who might be helping the process all along."

He then turned on the lights in the squad room and gestured to Claphammer, saying, "Sergeant Claphammer was quite unfortunate to cross paths with the vigilantes the other night."

Turning to his partner, Sam then added, "So tell us, Claphammer, what exactly happened? And try not to exaggerate."

FLASHBACK – Four Days Ago

_April 12, 2001_

Claphammer had received a tip on where a drug transfer was to take place, so he went over to the place and saw four members of a low-level drug gang securing the transfer of the drugs in a delivery truck.

The men saw Claphammer approaching and offered him a bribe, which the dirty detective accepted.

But just as Claphammer accepts the bribe, one of the men suddenly looked very foolish, and then slumps to the ground.

"What the? What's the matter with Joe?" One of the men asked as Joe lay on the ground, not moving.

Suddenly, a shift of wind blew the men's hats off their heads.

"Who's there?" One of the other men asked as they draw their weapons, ready to open fire.

A short minute later, a figure dressed as a giant falcon landed in front of the group, fists ready.

Instantly, the men opened fire, but to their surprise, the vigilante dodged them and then suddenly appeared behind one of the men, knocking him out.

One of the men then tried to jump the giant falcon, but a giant growl was all he heard before he was jumped by a demonic-looking dog.

Before long, it was just the vigilantes and Claphammer, who had a look of horror on his face.

END OF FLASHBACK

"It was like my report, lieutenant." Claphammer begins as he recounts what had happened. "That devil showed up as I was accepting a bribe from those guys. The guys tried to shoot him, but he was moving too fast, and used the darkness of the night to shield himself. Before they figured out where he went, he suddenly showed up and knocked down one of them, and then his companion, who I swear was the Hound of the Baskervilles, jumps the others. I tried to run, but that demon hound managed to jump me and..."

He then tried to describe what unfolded as he said, "...that demon hound, with its claws..."

"Claws...right." One of the detectives snorted and laughed.

"...which turned out to be dart thingys..." Claphammer continued.

"Dart thingys." Another detective laughed.

"...they paralyzed the fellas but singled me out..."

The detectives laughed as they listen to what Claphammer had to say, as well as the tone of horror in Claphammer' voice, and the scene was becoming a little uncomfortable for Sam and he raised his arms.

"Now, now, gentlemen." Sam says as he silenced the squad.

He then turned to Claphammer, and said "Carry on, detective, please."

* * *

Meanwhile at the office of the chief of police, Commander Gosnell and Chief of Police Strickland were discussing those random acts of assault by the mysterious vigilante.

"I've been thinking, Lou." Gosnell says as he sips his cup of coffee. "At least 60 acts of assault on Oakley's low-level street operations, this week alone. Should we be worried?"

"I'm not sure. One thing I do know was that Walter got attacked 4 nights ago, and Lieutenant Rogers is leading his unit in the investigation." The police chief replied as he tossed the newspaper aside.

"Rogers?" Gosnell asked. "He sent me a form requesting for personnel this morning. I suppose he filled that request to carry on with the investigation of those vigilantes."

"I suppose so. Have you responded to his request, Rupert?"

"Yes. I told him that I find the request excessive."

"You got it right. Those vigilantes may be breaking a few laws, but with those citizens of Coolsville having a hero they can count on, they can feel the city is safer and they would question less on how the city operates."

"I agree, Lou." Gosnell replies as he finished his cup of coffee.

As long as the vigilantes only targets low-level criminals like common thieves and purse-snatchers or shoplifters, the citizens of Coolsville won't question much on how the city operates and everything should be all fine for the corrupt establishment.

Or so they thought.

* * *

_April 22, 2001_

A few days later at night, Chief of Police Strickland, Oakley, some of Oakley's men and several officials from City Hall were at Oakley's luxurious mansion down in East Border for a dinner party, where they were discussing "business" and politics.

For the most part, however, they tone of the party was playful.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the mansion, two figures stealthily appears at the front garden of the mansion.

The figures first moved to drug many of the security guards, who were keeping watch of the mansion at the front garden.

After taking out the guards, the figures then moved to the window facing the dining room, where many of the city's top figures, including the chief of police, are having dinner with Oakley.

At that moment, Strickland was speaking on the phone as he ate.

"Lieutenant Rogers, what a pleasant surprise." Strickland said as he answered the phone.

Some minutes went by before the chief of police said, "The Blue Falcon and his Demon Hound? I'm in the middle of a meal, Lieutenant."

There was another pause before Strickland continued, "No, I haven't approved your requests for personnel. I find them excessive."

Another pause went by before Strickland said, "Yes, I am aware of that, Lieutenant. You do realize, though, that there are two sides to everything, right?"

The next pause was more short-lived as Strickland seemed to be cutting off Sam's remark and said, "You do realize how much has the level of street crime dropped in the past week? They have been having a positive effect on the public spirit and further more, you should know by now that I'm not in the habit of explaining myself to my lieutenants."

A pause went by before Strickland nodded. "Glad you understand, Lieutenant. Good night."

He then slammed the phone shut and handed it to the aide with a huff in annoyance.

"Have you seen the Blue Falcon or that canine companion, Lou?" The lady next to him, Kellie Prinze, said. "They said he's huge for a falcon!"

"You shouldn't push his buttons, Kellie." Robert Oakley said as he took a sip of his wine. "Lou's got a full plate lately. We're trusting him to be able to cope with that Falcon, that hound and with Rogers."

"And it's my pleasure to be able to maintain that trust, boys." Strickland nodded. "I really appreciate it."

"For crying out loud, Lou." Another man said to Strickland as he joined the conversation. "The press wasn't too keen on getting near you until that Falcon showed up. It's about time you start doing something about it."

"Now Henry, let's not get into that." Strickland said.

"Councilman Iverson's got a point, Lou." Oakley said bluntly. "Even though we still got more than a year to go before the election, he's got reasons to be concerned. Likewise, same goes for my organization. That falcon and his mutt are costing us money."

"Now, give me a break, Bob." Strickland said. "As I said to Rogers, there are two sides to everything. Sure, your organization is losing money after your street operations are put out of service, but in the long term, the people of Coolsville feel safe with a hero they can count on, and they will thus question less on the way of things in this city."

"True." Oakley nodded. "But I still don't like this. That falcon and his mutt are stirring things up. It's bad enough that we've got that boy Jaffe pushing Internal Affairs to go after Claphammer, who will be difficult to replace, and should he talk-"

"Jaffe is your problem, Oakley." Strickland cut in.

Back outside, the falcon, who was listening in to the conversations with the hound, turned to the hound and nodded.

The hound nodded back as its eyes turned red before opening its mouth, then out came a smoke grenade.

"Let me deal with-" Strickland was saying when suddenly, a smoke grenade smashed through the nearby window.

"What the devil..." One of the attendants exclaimed as the grenade bounced on the table.

"Who the..." Another said.

As panic settled into the dining room, the falcon, armed with a wire-cutter, cut the power cable, causing the manor's lights to all go out!

"The lights!" Prinze shouted. "What happened-"

Before anyone could get an answer to what had happened, another smoke grenade suddenly smashed through the window, shattering it in the process, and then went off, filling the room with smoke.

When the smoke dispersed, through the lone candle light that become the room's sole source of lighting, to everyone's horror, a tall-looking figure dressed in dark blue and in the shape of a falcon was standing on the dining table, flanked by a devilish-looking dark grey hound with glowing red eyes and growling.

"Ladies and gentlemen." The falcon said as he was blanketed by the darkness of the room. "You all have eaten well."

"While many in the city starve and can't afford to live under a roof or even have a decent meal." The hound added in a goofy but humourless, robotic voice.

The falcon then then reached over to the candle before continuing, "You have eaten Coolsville's wealth and spirit. Your feast is nearly over."

"From this moment on..." The hound said, its voice dripping into a demonic, motionless voice while the falcon's hand surrounds the flame on the candle. "...none of you are safe."

What followed was complete, pitch darkness.

* * *

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	7. The investigations and an out of control van

Chapter 7: The investigations and an out of control van

_April 23, 2001_

The next morning, Sam, along with several of the department's command staff, was called over to the chief's office for a meeting.

After the meeting, the chief held Sam back and told him that they have been ordered to find out who the vigilantes were and capture them.

"No more excuses, Rogers!" Strickland said angrily as Sam walked out of his office. "Those vigilantes either goes down instantly or you can kiss your badge goodbye, Lieutenant!"

"Yes, sir." Sam said calmly as he walked out of the office.

In the days and weeks that followed Sam's discussion with Strickland, Sam's squad came up with various tactics to try to lure the mysterious vigilante out during the night.`

One night, two of his detectives acted as muggers armed with knives while an officer acts as a would-be-victim, with several plainclothes officers standing by acting as bystanders watching the act.

Another day, two officers posed as gangsters while another two posed as drug dealers selling the drugs.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Radley and Reggie were in a lab-like setting in his manor going through the recordings Reggie had made the other night.

"I sure have heard Rogers' name frequently." Radley remarked to Reggie, who nodded. "The night people must've hated him."

"Indeed they do, Rad." Reggie said. "And didn't you mention that the officer that comforted you that fateful night at Coolsville's Crime Alley have nameplate saying 'Rogers' on his uniform?"

Radley raised an eyebrow as he digested the remark.

Then, he said to Reggie. "Reggie, activate your Dynomutt mode computer and see if you can do a search for me."

"Not a problem." Reggie nodded before pressing a button on his heck and produced a large supercomputer.

On the computer, Radley proceeded to do a search as he typed in "Rogers" and have it cross-referenced with the list personnel files of the Coolsville Police Department since 1984.

Upon receiving the results, Radley's eyebrows arched. There was one Rogers whose 1984 and 1985 files were detailed, but then the files for the subsequent years were empty until this year.

The photo of the Rogers in question looked just like the Officer Rogers that comforted him all those years ago, and Radley wondered why did the officer that comforted him that fateful night left the department in 1985, only to rejoin early this year.

* * *

_Late May-Early June, 2001_

As the weeks went by, it has become clear that the police's attempts to find the vigilantes were turning up fruitless.

Sam noted that it seemed like that the vigilantes knew exactly when and where the department are setting up the traps, and as the nights went by, reports of them assaulting the most powerful figures in the city has become a reassurance.

One day, Sam read that the vigilantes ran Oakley's luxury car off the road into a river, even telling the Actor where the car was exactly at.

Another day, the crime boss was found stripped, partially naked and tied-up in his mansion.

"Those vigilantes sure are getting more brazen in their assaults by the night." Sam remarked to McBride one morning with the patrol sergeant nodding in agreement.

"I know, eh?" McBride agreed. "Running the Actor's car off the road into the river is one thing, but breaking into his mansion, stripping his clothes and tying him up on his bed is another thing."

"You know, Lieutenant." Detective Patrick Stevens, one of the very first detectives to warm up to Sam, said as he walked up to their conversations, "Don't you think that Assistant DA Jaffe is behind these assaults by the Blue Falcon and his demon hound?"

* * *

_June 6, 2001_

"They know when and where we set our traps for them." Sam spoke to Jaffe in the Assistant DA's office later that evening. "And night by night, they terrify the most powerful men of Coolsville. You read about what they did to the Actor's car?"

"I sure did, Lieutenant." Jaffe nodded. "I laughed myself silly, almost as if I was exposed to the laughing gas of that crazy, lunatic clown of Gotham. An Arnage, to be precise."

"And you've been after the Actor for years and have came close to indicting him, not just once, but twice." Sam continued.

"Oh, yes." Jaffe replied as he leaned on his desk.

"Several of your witnesses change their testimony, and others vanish." Sam continued. "Must be a frustrating process."

He then walked towards the weight-lifting equipment in the office and tried to lift the weights.

"That falcon sure used his muscle and his hounds' gadgets to keep you Assistant District Attorney." Sam said before puffing and putting down the weights and added, "You keep yourself in shape, don't you, Mr. Jaffe?"

"Where is this conversation heading, Lieutenant?" Jaffe asked.

Sam took out his notebook and a pen before adjusting his glasses and said, "I need to know where were you on the following dates."

* * *

Moments later, Sam left Jaffe's office, and the Assistant DA turned to his chair and remarked, "Thought he'd never leave. You guys can come out now."

Within a minute, the Blue Falcon emerged from his hiding spot from under Jaffe's desk while the hound reshaped itself from the shape of a briefcase.

* * *

_June 7, 2001_

The next morning, Sam was driving through the city in his car with his new partner in the Blue Falcon Task Force, Sergeant Jared Stephenson from Internal Affairs.

The involvement of Internal Affairs stemmed from the fact that there were corrupt officers that were on the receiving end of the vigilantes' scorns.

During the drive, Stephenson asked Sam about the interview with Jaffe the night before.

"Alibis?" Sam was saying. "Jaffe's got one for every single night when the Blue Falcon and his hound terrorizes the city."

"What is it?" Stephenson asked.

"Says he's home every night, particularly between midnight and five, with his wife and family." Sam said. "I don't think there's a point questioning them."

"I agree." Stephenson says as he drove on. "You really think he's that giant falcon, Lieutenant?"

"It's possible." Sam replied. "I mean, Jaffe is passionate enough, but it takes more than just muscles to fight or even get around the way that falcon does, not to mention the weapons..."

"Right, sir." Stephenson nodded. "He's got to have an arsenal, plus he should have connections with someone excellent in robotics in order to build that hound with gadgets."

"Unless he's got the right connections, there's no way Jaffe could afford all of that." Sam said.

"Wait a minute, Lieutenant!" Stephenson said when he realized something. "Money and robotics...Lieutenant...Radley Crown is among the richest citizens of Coolsville and is the President of Blake Robotics...and...being from out of town, you may not know this, but he was orphaned at ten when his parents ran afoul of a mugger."

At the remark, something inside Sam when he recognized the name Crown.

"Crown." Sam said. "How old is Radley Crown?"

Before Jared could answer, their attention was diverted to an out of control van that almost collided with them.

"My word!" Sam exclaimed as he managed to steer the car out of the van's way at the last minute. "We better follow that van!"

With that, he activated the siren, made a U-turn, and started to chase the van.

Through the van's side-view mirrors, Sam and Jared noticed that the driver is unconscious, which may explain why the van was speeding out of control.

Before they could do something, Jared shouted, "Uh-oh!"

Before Sam can ask why, his attention was diverted to an elderly man, who is walking across the street, unaware that he had gotten into the path of the out-of-control van.

"Nuts!" Sam exclaimed. "Jared, you take over driving the car. I'll jump on the van and try to steer it out of the way."

"Are you crazy?"

"You got a better idea?"

Reluctantly, Stephenson took control of the steering wheel as Sam opened the drivers' door and stood up, trying to jump onto the van.

Spotting an opening in the van, Sam quickly jumped onto the van as Jared steered away from the van.

After barely managing to hold on to the van, Sam makes his way to the vans drivers' seat and started hitting the brakes.

"Come on..." Sam said as he slammed on the brakes, only to hear the tires screeching against the pavement but the van showed no sign of slowing down. "Stop, you blasted van!"

He looked on and saw the old man stopping and looking towards him.

Just as Sam started to think that everything has crashed and burned for him, a familiar-looking figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swooped down, grabbing the old man as it swung by and just barely before the van sped past where the old man was at a bare second before.

"The Blue Falcon!" Sam thought to himself as he watched the giant vigilante swinging the old man to safety before suddenly, he lurched forward as the van slowed down abruptly, hitting the vehicle frame in the process.

"What the...?" Sam asked as he looked towards the side mirrors, rubbing his head in the process, and saw a familiar figure grabbing onto the back of the van.

It was the hound that always accompanies the Blue Falcon, and the lieutenant can see the cyborg canine trying to stop the van with all its might.

After the van came to a stop, Sam quickly radioed for paramedics for the driver of the van before rushing to find Stephenson.

It didn't take long for him to see Stephenson, who had his service weapon aimed at the Blue Falcon.

His attention was diverted when he saw Sam in a dazed state. "Are you all right, sir?"

Before Sam can reply, the Blue Falcon snatched the gun away from Stephenson, disarmed him, and fled into a nearby abandoned building.

"I'll call for backup." Stephenson quickly said after seeing the figure disappear.

"No, no, wait!" Sam exclaimed before suddenly feeling dizzy, where he then collapsed onto the sidewalk.

"Lieutenant!" Stephenson yelled after seeing Sam on the ground.

Quickly, he administered first-aid on Sam as backup units moved in. The last thing Sam heard before blacking out was the sirens of several patrol cars rushing to the scene.

* * *

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	8. Aftermath and a file

Chapter 8: Aftermath and a file

_June 8, 2001_

Sam was lucky to be all right. He got out of the ordeal with a minor headache and was checked-up for a possible concussion at the Coolsville Don Messick Hospital.

He then remembered what had happened the day before, and realized that the Blue Falcon had saved a man's life, in addition to the hound accomplice averting a vehicle crash, which contributed to his decision to order Stephenson not to call for backup when they saw the Blue Falcon fleeing into the dark alleyway.

After being discharged from the hospital, Sam took the daily paper and the first thing that caught his eye was the news report on the police showdown with the Blue Falcon.

That ended with the vigilante making good of his escape on the cyborg hound, who transformed into a motorcycle in the getaway, and in the process, the vigilante summoned a large flock of birds that camouflage their escape.

The showdown itself was a fiasco for the Coolsville Police Department.

At least dozens of men from Anders' SWAT team, including Anders himself, have received serious injuries and one detective ended up driving his car into the lake while chasing the flock of birds in a bid of impressing Strickland by tracking down the Blue Falcon.

The area where the showdown took place was pretty much damaged, and there has been talks that the business owners in the area will be launching a class-action lawsuit against the police department for the damages.

As Sam expected, the chief wasn't quite happy with the way things turned out the day before.

* * *

Meanwhile, Radley, in the Falcon's Nest, was digging up the files of the Officer Rogers that comforted him that fateful night.

He discovered files documenting a shooting incident at a warehouse in the Docklands a year after his parents were murdered by the mugger.

The shooting incident occurred after the good officer claimed that he caught his corrupt former training officer and her husband raiding a warehouse and stealing diamonds from LexCorp. and shot them in self-defence.

The only witness that can testify to that version of events is Officer Sebastian Dibbles, the good officer's partner. Unfortunately, Dibbles was killed in a gang shootout months after the incident.

He frowned when he saw the name of the police captain that arranged the good officer's transfer to the New York City Police Department: Captain Louis Strickland, who's the current chief of police.

"I sure got a good look of that fat cat when I crashed Oakley's dinner party last month." Radley thought to himself.

He then went onto the officer's files from the New York City Police Department, and he saw that the officer made a descent ascension of the ladder, eventually making it to the rank of Lieutenant before returning to Coolsville early this year.

The name of the officer that comforted him on the fateful night of the mugging: Samuel Chastain Rogers.

* * *

_June 20, 2001_

A couple of weeks after the fiasco, Sam found himself yelling in Jaffe's office.

"I understand that you aren't a crazy fool, Jaffe." Sam said angrily as he pointed towards outside. "So can you please explain to me why did you let them release Al Houser onto the streets?"

That meeting in the assistant DA's office came after the judge assigned to the _State of Ohio vs. Alan "Al" Houser_ case set bail for the drug dealer and trafficker, in spite of the defendant being considered a flight risk.

To the surprise of many, Jaffe, who was the prosecutor assigned to the case, did not object to the decision.

As a result, Al Houser is a free man, at least for now.

It was a decision that Sam, who was the detective assigned to the drug trafficking case prior to being pulled to the Blue Falcon Task Force, was very uncomfortable with.

"I understand that you are frustrated, Lieutenant." Jaffe said. "But you should know that I'm going to have help on this."

* * *

That night, the Blue Falcon was climbing up the walls of Houser's apartment building with the hound as he overheard a conversation between the drug dealer and a woman.

"Do you understand?" The woman asked. "You stay clean until you are completely off the hook, because you know that Rogers and Jaffe would love to catch you with your pants down!"

"Catch me?" Al can be heard saying. "They did catch me, Sandy, and they let me go, thanks to that court order you obtained for me that tied Rogers' hands."

"Whatever." Sandy said dismissively. "Now, you listen carefully, Al. Don't you ever mention Claphammer's name, not even a word, because if you do, they'll have us killed."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Al replied. "All I have to do is dress professionally in a suit, keep my hands off the stuff and smile nicely at the jury."

"Good." Sandy nodded as she prepared to leave Houser's apartment. "Just remember, Al. They still have their clothes on and will be looking for an opportunity for you to slip."

"Right." Al nodded as he lit a cigarette.

* * *

Soon, Sandy was out of the building and Al was alone in his apartment, smoking a cigarette while turning on the television.

As he watched the television, the Blue Falcon managed to pick the apartment window open.

"Huh?" Al asked when he felt a gust of wind and turned. "Who opened the window?"

Moments later, Sandy was on her way to the elevator when she heard a loud smash coming from Al's apartment.

"What the devil?" She asked as she quickly made her way back to Al's apartment door and knocked on it. "Al, are you alright?"

"I...I'm fine." Al said, even though he was pinned onto the floor by the Blue Falcon and the hound, on top of some broken glass.

"You'd better lay off the cocaine." Sandy shook her head in disapproval as she walked towards the elevators. "It makes you hallucinate."

Once Sandy was out of earshot, the Blue Falcon leaned towards Al as the hound growled at him.

"Now, you listen carefully." He said to Al, who was struggling to reach for his gun.

In the ensuring struggle, Al managed to get free but the hound managed to tug him by the pants, causing him to fall.

"You'll never escape from me or the hound." The Blue Falcon said as he disarmed Al. "Bullets don't hurt me, nor does anything."

Then, as Al laid on the floor, choking with the Blue Falcon grabbing him by the collar, the vigilante continued, "However, I know pain."

As Al looked into the Blue Falcon's expressionless eyes, the vigilante leaned forward and added, "And I share it...with someone like you."

* * *

_June 21, 2001_

That morning, Sam almost dropped his mug of coffee when Al walked into the station.

"I want to speak with Jaffe." Al said when he and Sam were alone in the office. "Tell him that I want to make a deal about Claphammer."

Shortly after the discussion, Sam summoned McBride.

"McBride, go get Jaffe." He said to the senior patrol sergeant. "I'm going to need to tell the chief, and boy, is he going to be mad."

"Right." McBride nodded as he exited the office.

* * *

_June 22, 2001_

Sam was right about his remark about Strickland. The chief was clearly not happy as he read the headlines about Claphammer being implicated in Houser's drug operations.

"You do realize that Sergeant Claphammer is a friend of mine, do you?" Strickland said to Sam as he sat in the chief's office that mid-morning.

"Yes, sir." Sam said. "I do, it's just that everyone's been working..."

"It doesn't give you the excuse to hand his head over to Internal Affairs without informing me prior, Lieutenant." Strickland cut in sharply before Sam could finish.

"Didn't you say that you'll give us your best work when Chief Strickland interviewed you early this year, Lieutenant?" Gosnell asked with his arms folded.

"Yes, I did." Sam nodded. "And I did kept that promise."

"You've got good press, Lieutenant." Strickland said. "I have to give you credit on that, and they sure like you, especially a certain Ms. Rachel Adams and her gang at the Gazette."

"However, just because the press likes you doesn't mean that they know you, Lieutenant." Gosnell added. "Not in the way we know you."

"It'll be terrible if they find out about your record in the Gulf War." Strickland said, a smirk growing on his face as he speak, before revealing some documents on his desk.

Sam's eyes widened when he saw the title of the documents on Strickland's desk.

It was a court martial file detailing an escapade from his service in the Gulf War.

"The Marines have ears everywhere, Sam." Gosnell smirked.

* * *

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	9. The radio talk show and kidnapping

Chapter 9: The radio talk show and kidnapping

_June 23, 2001_

Three days later, Sam was scheduled to appear at a radio talk show. Apparently, the talk for that days program was about his rescue of the six hostages a couple of months ago.

The host greatly welcomed Sam to the studio and after a series of preparations, they were on the air.

At first, the talk show mainly consisted of Sam's recount on the rescue, his take on what had happened that day.

Soon, about 30 minutes towards the end of the show, the host turned the conversation into a new channel.

"So Lieutenant, do you have any moments in your careers that you considered to be a big disappointment?" The host, Mr. Kasem, asked.

"Well, in terms for my law enforcement career, no." Sam replied. "However, in terms for my military service, yes."

"I see." Mr. Kasem nodded. "What was that occasion?"

"Well, this is something that is quite difficult to speak about while on the air, but...well...let's just say that I was court martialed once during my service in the Gulf War." Sam replied.

Sam looked at the host as he answered the question, expecting a surprise from him.

To his surprise, Mr. Kasem's face showed no surprise at all.

In fact, his tone was still as calm as before as he replied, "Oh really? What exactly happened?"

"Well, it was a friendly fire incident in the Battle of Khafji that resulted in deaths of 11 Marines when their light armoured vehicles were hit by missiles fired by an Air Force A-10." Sam replied. "I was among the officers that approved the deployment of those light armoured vehicles into the strike zone."

"I see." Mr. Kasem nodded. "You guys must've gotten into trouble after that."

"We did." Sam agreed. "So came the court martial with charges of negligence causing death of servicemen, but we were eventually cleared of wrongdoing due to the exhaustion from the day of the battle that resulted in our superiors higher up to approve the deployment of the LAVs into the strike zone."

Mr. Kasem nodded again. "But nonetheless, you still considered your decision back then as a big disappointment."

"I agree." Sam nodded. "Don't get me wrong, that tyrant in Iraq crossed the line by invading neighbouring Kuwait and annexing it, but the way the war was conducted...I don't know...it just doesn't sit right with me."

After they were off the air, Sam stood up as he thanked Mr. Kasem for inviting him.

To his surprise, Mr. Kasem and the crew members in the studio started to give him a round of applause as he stood up.

There weren't any serious faces in the radio station, and even the CEO of the radio network, who was listening to the show in his office, showed up to give Sam his appreciation of showing his honesty and showing up for the radio show.

* * *

_June 25, 2001_

Two days after the radio show, all of the city's newspapers, radio and television news networks buzzed about the Saturday talk show Sam had took part in.

The Coolsville Gazette featured an editorial that praised the lieutenant's honesty, which also indicated that the police chief will be facing tough questions in the days that lay ahead, as it was no secret among the journalists across the city that Strickland was trying to blackmail Sam Rogers into giving up his work of trying to reform the police department.

As expected, Strickland wasn't quite happy about the news. He had expected a drop in Sam's reputation, but it appears that he is even more popular with the press than ever.

He now realized that with this bargaining chip removed, he and Gosnell will have to come up with another plan before things become too late, especially after that afternoon when Sam and Jaffe were speaking to Claphammer, who was accompanied by his lawyer in an interview room.

"Houser told us when, where and how much money you've been receiving, Claphammer." Assistant District Attorney Jaffe was speaking that late afternoon in an interview room to Claphammer, accompanied by Sam and Claphammer's lawyer. "And you've been spending way more than what you've been earning."

"You'll be looking at more than ten years behind bars, Claphammer." Sam said after a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah." Claphammer sneered. "That is, if Houser's alive enough to testify..."

Immediately, his lawyer cut in and said, "My client didn't mean to say that."

* * *

_June 27, 2001_

The case Sam's been building against his former partner almost derailed when someone slipped rat poison into Houser's food.

Fortunately, McBride was accompanying the drug dealer during the incident and was able to pump Houser's stomach in time before the paramedics arrived.

* * *

_June 30, 2001_

Three days after the near-poisoning death of Houser, Sam and Jaffe visited him in the hospital for a discussion.

Upon leaving Houser's room, Sam said to Jaffe, who was waiting outside, "Houser's still going to testify against Claphammer. He doesn't seem to care about the attempt on his life three days ago or the fact that his attorney had quit."

"He must've been very scared of someone." Jaffe said with a smile.

* * *

_July 2, 2001_

Several days after the failed attempt on Houser's life, Oakley was fuming as he sat in his office that evening.

He was also still fuming about the failure of the blackmail attempt more than a week ago. He knew that with Sam still standing and Houser still going to testify, he will eventually lose control of the city.

He had to come up with a plan, and fast.

His thoughts grind to a halt when his summoned henchman entered his office.

"You called, boss?" The henchman asked.

Oakley smirked as he nodded.

* * *

_July 3, 2001_

That morning, Sam was working in his office when someone knocked on the door.

He looked, and the person was Sergeant Nelson McCormick, the squad's only black detective.

McCormick was one of the first detectives to warm himself to the new lieutenant when Sam was transferred in 6 months back, and an interesting thing to note was that prior to passing his detective's test, he was in patrol with then-Lieutenant Rupert Gosnell as his commanding officer.

McCormick confided with Sam previously that he was amused by the fact that the lieutenant was always able to find his way out of trouble from Gosnell, who he also deeply dislikes.

In addition, when McCormick learned about Sam's involvement in the shooting of a corrupt cop in the Docklands back in 1985, he commented that the lieutenant's got the chops to fight the corrupt establishment.

"Yes, Nelson?" Sam asked as the detective made his way into his office.

"Sir, I thought you want to be briefed about the updates of our investigations into the background of Radley Crown." Nelson replied as he closed the office door.

"Oh, yes." Sam nodded as he motioned the sergeant to take a seat. "What have you, Nelson?"

"So upon further digging by the lads, we discovered that Mr. Crown has spent a significant amount of time overseas following his parents' death at Tex Avery Lane." McCormick said. "And he does hold a degree in robotics and mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo north of the border, not to mention that he's also the head of Blake Technologies."

"I see." Sam nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yes, one more thing." McCormick said as he flipped a page in his notebook. "The man's got connections to a certain Bruce Wayne from Gotham City, where a giant bat is lurking the streets in a manner similar to our falcon here in Coolsville."

"All right, then. I should set up the interview now. Great work, Nelson."

"Thank you, sir."

After the discussion with McCormick, Sam went online and searched for Crown's phone number.

After punching in the number into the phone, he asked if he could speak to the millionaire.

* * *

Sam was ready to go not long after the millionaire agreed to have an interview with him in person at the Blake Mansion, and he laughed when Sam mentioned the Blue Falcon.

After a 20-minute drive, Sam pulled up to the visitor's parking lot of the Blake Mansion.

The mansion was fairly small for a house in its category, but nevertheless, it seemed fairly large for Sam.

As Sam made his way to the entrance of the mansion, he noticed something odd: There was a motorcycle parked in front of the garage.

Normally, this would be usual, since the Blake's also owned motorcycles.

However, when Sam saw the license plate of the motorcycle, he instantly became alert.

"Something's wrong!" He thought as he quickly pushed the door open, only to discover a shocking sight.

Inside the mansion, a man in his thirties was holding on to a red-haired girl, who was crying, with a gun pointing towards her head, as the girl's parents, who Sam instantly recognized as George and Elizabeth Blake, looked on helplessly.

The man had a smirk on his face, as he says: "All right, you clowns. I'm out of here. If you two make a move, you'll never see your daughter again."

He then turned and saw Sam standing in the doorway, gun drawn.

"Ah, Lieutenant Sam Rogers." The man exclaimed. "A pleasure to meet you in person. Too bad this pleasure won't last long, as you'll soon be in prison for the kidnapping of little Daphne Blake."

"Oh, is that so?" Sam asked.

The man didn't reply, as he managed to run and push Sam to the ground.

He then leaped onto his motorcycle, the one Sam saw earlier parking in front of the garage, and took off, as Sam gets up and tries to run after the thug, with no success as the man had managed to take off.

"Blast!" Sam Rogers exclaimed angrily as he swing his arm in frustration.

He turned to the Blakes, but before he could say something, George spoke, "Don't worry, lieutenant. We both know that you didn't kidnap our daughter. But you have to do something before it's too late."

"Right." Sam nodded. "Is there something you people have that can catch up to a motorcycle?"

Before the Blakes can respond, a voice said, "I believe you can use my personal motorcycle for the chase, Lieutenant."

The trio turned and looked. It was Radley Crown, who was at the stairway.

"Mr. Crown!" Sam said. "Are you sure?"

"Just go." Radley said. "We're losing time."

Sam was about to argue further, given that he didn't want to risk damaging Mr. Crown's motorcycle, but seeing the worried look on George and Elizabeth's faces, he knew that they were losing time.

Without another word, the Lieutenant hurriedly raced out of the mansion, right after Radley told him where he had parked his motorcycle.

Jumping onto the bike, Sam thought to himself.

"Let's see if I can get this beauty going!" He thought to himself.

As they watched Sam take off on the motorcycle, Radley turned to the Blakes and remarked, "That lieutenant is going to need some help."

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam managed to pull up just in time to see the thug carrying Daphne onto a waiting SUV.

The driver, upon seeing the approaching lieutenant, quickly shifted the vehicle into drive and slammed on the gas, just as the thug with Daphne slammed the door shut.

Knowing that he is losing time, Sam kept holding onto the steering handle with one hand while reaching for his service weapon.

Soon, the chase brought him to the William Hanna Metro Bridge, a major road-railroad bridge linking the suburbs to downtown Coolsville.

At that point, Sam aimed his service weapon and fired towards the SUV's tires.

The tires blew out and the driver slammed on the brakes as he lost control of the vehicle, but he wasn't fast enough to avert a crash into the bridge's steel structure.

Upon seeing the crash, Sam stopped, got off the motorcycle and rushed over to the SUV.

The driver had no pulse as Sam checked on him, but before he could do something, the back passenger door opened, catching him off guard and causing him to drop his service weapon.

The thug, with Daphne in his arm, rushed over to Sam with a knife in hand.

In the struggle, the thug said to Sam, "You meddle once too often, lieutenant. I will put a stop to your meddling once and for all!"

"That's what you think, Farren." Sam replied as they engaged in the struggle, unaware of a giant shadow flying over them at that very instant.

In the process, the thug accidentally let go of the girl, who fell off the bridge.

"No!" Sam cried as the girl fell.

In shock of seeing the girl fall, Sam suddenly pushed the thug back and in the ensuring struggle, he caused him to fall off the bridge as well.

However, during the struggle, a figure jumped off the bridge and managed to catch the girl, who was crying.

That figure then managed to break his fall as he held onto the girl, allowing them to land in the shallow water below harmlessly.

As the splash cleared following the thug's landing in the shore of the river, Sam looked up and saw the Blue Falcon with Daphne in his arms, calming her.

"Is he...?" The Blue Falcon asked Sam, referring to the thug in the river.

"Oh, don't worry." Sam replied after checking the thug's pulse. "There's a reason why they call him 'The Stuntman'."

He then looked into the Blue Falcon's eyes and thought that they looked familiar.

His mind then flashed back to the moment he was calming a crying boy at Tex Avery Lane 17 years ago, and at that moment, deep down, he knew the truth behind the Blue Falcon.

Behind the mask, Radley was silent as he came face-to-face with the police officer that calmed him down that fateful night at Tex Avery Lane.

The silence was only broken when the vigilante handed the crying Daphne to Sam.

"You must've had some trauma from a shooting years ago." Sam said as he calmed Daphne down.

"Yes, indeed." The Blue Falcon nodded.

Upon hearing sirens from the distance, Sam added, "Sirens are coming. You'd better go."

The Blue Falcon nodded as he whistled the hound, who swung by and picked him up before they disappeared into the sky as Sam looked on.

* * *

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	10. The aftermath and a promotion

Chapter 10: The aftermath and a promotion

_July 12, 2001_

It has been more than a week since Sam had foiled the kidnapping of Daphne Blake with the help of the Blue Falcon.

During that rescue, Sam managed to figure out the secret behind the Blue Falcon, and it was a secret he knew that he better keep to himself.

The day after the failed kidnapping, Sam went over to the chief's office, accompanied by Sergeant Nelson McCormick and a handcuffed and humiliated Stuntman.

Sam will never forget the shocked expression on Strickland and Gosnell's faces when he walked into the office with McCormick and the Stuntman, nor will he forget the way he and McCormick told the two men that the kidnapping attempt will do nothing to stop his fight for reform.

The chief's troubles were only set to worsen after Sam revealed to him that he and McCormick knew that he had conspired with Oakley to arrange the kidnapping of Daphne.

* * *

_July 17, 2001_

A few days after the surprise, Sam's former partner Walter Claphammer agreed to the plea bargain offered by Assistant DA Nick Jaffe.

In exchange for a lighter sentence, he will testify against Strickland and Oakley.

Sam was in court during Claphammer's testimony. He was surprised that his former partner is smarter than he thought.

As it turned out, Claphammer had took detailed notes of his short conversations with Strickland. Dates, times, locations, it was all there.

What impressed Sam more is that Claphammer spent two and a half weeks in custody and he still remembered where those notes were.

* * *

_August 5, 2001_

Weeks of Claphammer's testimony went by and Jaffe was able to successfully charge Chief of Police Lou Strickland for corruption and conspiracy.

However, with a judge known for giving breaks to defendants on the case, Strickland got no prison sentence.

In spite of not being sentenced to prison, Strickland decided that resigning from his post as the city's chief of police was the best interest for him.

He resigned that day, upon meeting with the mayor to confer on the terms of his resignation.

As the court case unfolded and it has become increasingly likely that Strickland will lose his job, the police department has scrambled to get someone to fill the top position.

That position was eventually filled by a certain Gillian "Gil" Mason, who was a deputy commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department prior to his transfer to Coolsville two years ago.

From what Sam knew through his contacts in Gotham, he knew that Mason's a reasonable chap, even if his contact's other "contact" felt otherwise.

"I wonder why does Jim's other contact felt something suspicious about Mason?" Sam wondered to himself. "But then again, I shouldn't let my guard down."

While there may be clouds forming over his thoughts on the new chief of police, things are looking up for Sam at the moment.

Oakley was outraged about The Stuntman's failure, and had ordered his murder, which occurred before Strickland resigned.

However, a high-level member of a well-known mafia based in New York was injured badly during the murder attempt, resulting in the head of that mafia organization declaring war on Oakley.

Sam had his run-ins with that New York-based mafia organization when he was with the New York City Police Department, and as he read the newspaper about the latest casualties from the gang war resulting from the failed attempt on the Stuntman's life, he shook his head.

"I sure don't envy Oakley." He thought to himself.

With Oakley engaged in a gang war with that New York-based Mafia organization, he was too busy to be able stand in the way of Sam's promotion to captain.

The promotion also gave Sam higher authority, and he, along with Sergeant McCormick, were transferred to the elite Special Investigations Bureau that operated from Coolsville Central.

As Sam looks back at the eight months that went by, he couldn't help but think of the Blue Falcon.

He was amazed by how did the crying boy he comforted that fateful night at Tex Avery Lane has become a criminal's worst nightmare in Coolsville.

Still, Sam can't help but think that without the Blue Falcon and his hound's help, he would still be fighting an uphill battle against a crooked police chief under the influence of a powerful mob boss.

Say, speaking of that hound, they have yet to come up with a name for him.

* * *

_August 27, 2001_

That evening, Captain Sam Rogers stood on the rooftop of the police headquarters with Sergeant McCormick as the night breeze swayed his hair.

The night before, they had come across the murder of a chemical industrialist, who was found dead in the library of his manor.

The murder was deemed unsolvable by the police due to a lack of witnesses and evidence at the scene, but Sam and Nelson felt that there is someone they know who might be able to solve the crime.

"Are you really sure about this, Captain?" McCormick asked as they waited in the night on the roof of Coolsville Central.

"Yes, I am." Sam nodded before glancing at his watch and added, "They should be here in any minute."

"Who are 'they'?" McCormick asked.

Before Sam can reply, two figures swing in and landed on the rooftop.

"Good evening, Captain Rogers." The first figure said as he and the second figure stepped out from the shadows. "And Sergeant McCormick."

"Ah, so here's the falcon and his mutt." McCormick said.

"I'm not just a mutt, mate." The Blue Falcon's companion said. "I'm Dynomutt, Dog Wonder!"

"Oh." Sam remarked. "We never came up with a name for you, but that's a good one for us to use."

"Anyways, what can we do for you, Captain?" The Blue Falcon asked.

"The police had come across a murder case last night, but with little clues and no witnesses, we thought that you may be able to help out, Blue Falcon." Sam replied.

"The Case of the Chemical King, huh?" The Blue Falcon said before nodding. "Right."

* * *

**The series continues in _Coolsville Central: Hyde and Seek!_**

**Any thoughts about the ending? Please read and review!**


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